LEADING THE WAY OUT OF THE EU

May’s big speech

19 January 2017

Theresa May’s long-awaited Brexit speech grabbed the headlines.

Theresa May finally broke her silence on Brexit yesterday and, as had been widely reported, confirmed that Britain would be leaving the European Single Market and full membership of the EU Customs Union – allowing us to once again take control of our immigration policy and our trade policy. The speech was well received by some Brexiteers, with former UKIP leader and Brexit champion Nigel Farage tweeting that ‘real progress’ had been made as ‘the PM is now using the phrases and words that I’ve been mocked for using for years’.

Big talk

Mrs May took a tough stance, threatening that Europe would end up in “tiny pieces” if it took a needlessly tough stance against Brexit Britain, highlighting arguments made by the Leave campaign during the referendum that it was in the mutual interest of the UK and the EU to come to a mature deal following our departure.

The response from European leaders was remarkably cheerful though, with Donald Tusk praising Mrs May’s ‘realistic’ tone and Michel Barnier – the European Commission’s chief negotiator – vowing to strike the ‘right deal’ for both parties. Barnier tweeted that he was ‘ready as soon as UK is’, repeating the consistent demand that negotiations could only begin once Mrs May invokes Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and gives proper notice of her intention to withdraw Britain.

Many had recognised, before our own Remainer politicians, that the mandate from June’s vote required swift exit from the clutches of the Single Market, with politicians across the EU warning that the Prime Minister would not be able to selectively participate in the EU while formally leaving the bloc.

Remoaners see opportunity

Brexiteers have some reason to remain sceptical, however, with the PM confirming that parliament – loaded with Remoaners – will indeed have a vote on the final deal, including the discredited and Liberal Democrat infested House of Lords. This opens yet another roadblock to Brexit, and one that all Leavers should be suspicious of.

Leave.EU Remoaner of the Year and Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron continued his months long tantrum against the will of 17.4 million British voters. He polluted the airwaves in his usual way, demanding a second referendum after the first didn’t go his way. He confirmed that a parliamentary vote meant that ‘Article 50 is revocable’, confirming warnings from Leave.EU’s Arron Banks that Mrs May had ‘opened the door to a Remainer coup’.

He confirmed that ‘we will argue that the best position of the British government is to make sure that your option is not a bad deal or falling out into outer darkness. No Prime Minister who gave a monkey’s about the British people would leave those two options’.

The delusional comments demonstrate his failure to properly gauge the national mood, with a new poll from Sky showing that a majority of the public back quitting the Single Market while only 39% oppose it – way down from the 48% who backed remaining in the European Union.

Sterling surges

The pound reacted quite differently to Mr Farron, enjoying its best day of trading in decades and rising 3% against the dollar – hitting close to $1.24 against America’s currency. It also rose nearly 2% against the euro at €1.1556. The trading represents the biggest bump for the currency since official data began to be compiled in 1998.

The media had a field day when the value of sterling fell following our vote in June – despite it having an immediate positive impact on exports and having no discernable impact on business expansion, which has accelerated in recent months. Will they be so quick to report this?

Unsurprisingly the Remainer media peddled their usual fake news, with the Independent laughably claiming that the pound had fallen below the euro during the day – using the cost of Euros at an airport bureaux de change rather than the actual exchange rate. Good news or bad news, the Remainers just can’t get over their catastrophic loss.